Rachel Pawlowski, academic advisor, Irvin D. Reid Honors College

Tip #1 – BE at the conference.  Block your calendar and put up an away message like you normally would if you were attending an in-person conference.  It is too tempting to check email and still try to engage at work when you are attending a virtual conference.  But really try to be present and avoid getting sucked into doing ‘work’.

Tip #2 – Make sure to engage the software platform the conference is using before attending your first session.  This can be done by attending the typical ‘Welcome’ that occurs with most conferences.  Not only is the ‘Welcome’ a great way to set the tone for the whole conference but is also a great way to make sure that your computer is set up to work with the zoom/teams/etc. platform that the conference is using.

Tip #3 – Pick your sessions ahead of time.  This is true of any conference you attend but almost more important in a virtual one.  Sometimes we will pick sessions at breakfast with fellow colleagues in the morning before sessions begin.  Sometimes we will read the descriptions of the sessions while walking to the next ones.  But, since many of those typical behaviors won’t occur in a virtual setting, its easy to get lost in between sessions reading abstracts and miss a session’s start time or the whole session!

Tip #4 – Take breaks.  Again, this is true of any conference but with virtual conferences requiring you to sit at a computer all day in zoom sessions, fatigue can set in really quick.  You don’t get the natural movement of a live conference when you are switching rooms and getting herded around a convention center and getting those steps in.  That natural exercise keeps you going and helps to get that blood flowing.  With a virtual conference, you need to be more intentional with getting up from your computer in between sessions (and not checking your work email!!).  Take a walk during lunch or just get up from your computer to stretch your legs. You can even try to change rooms during the day for a good change of scenery if possible.

Tip #5 – Engage during sessions!  Virtual presentations do offer some benefits as far as getting a large group of people to interact.  There is more possibility to utilize breakout rooms for more intimate engagement within a session, polls to help see who is in the room and how they are relating to the presentation material, and also the ‘Reactions’ feature to make sure everyone is still engaged.  It is really helpful to the presenters to have an active audience but it is also better for you to participate when asked so you can fully engage in the material and hopefully learn some best practices to bring back.